Democracy Watch Vol. 8, No. 2 May 2009 1 Newsletter of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development 27 Democracy Watch Volume 8, No. 2 May 2009 IN THE ANNALS OF GHANAIAN ELECTIONS ISSN: 0855-417X Editors’ Note without serious reform of the state, Special Issue on Election 2008 its political institutions and culture, Ghana experienced its second Ghana may not be as fortunate the In this issue peaceful transition of power from next time round. They include the incumbent party to opposition party following: on January 7, 2009, when President Worrisome developments in the The 2008 presidential and 2008 polls ..... Page 2 John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) handed over the parliamentary elections were Tensions, conflicts and violence presidency to John Atta Mills of the characterized by deep political in the December polls ... Page 4 National Democratic Congress polarization, high levels of mistrust, Lessons to promote violence- (NDC). A new NDC-led parliament and mutual suspicion, especially free and peaceful elections in was also installed the same day. between the two leading parties— the Ghana ..... Page 6 Already somewhat unique among NPP and NDC. The election was Resolving violent communal new African democracies for nearly compromised by flaws and conflicts more comprehensively remaining politically stable after weaknesses inherent in Ghana’s ...... Page 6 four successful presidential and political arrangements, processes and Depoliticizing district election parliamentary elections (in 1992, practices, especially the over- security management to enhance 1996, 2000 and 2004), the latest dominance of the executive, weak police professionalism and peaceful transfer of power governance institutions and neutrality .....Page 7 confirmed Ghana’s place as a significant civic education gaps which, in turn, created the conditions Enhanced civic education and beacon of hope for democracy in democratic citizenship ... Page 7 Africa. for electoral conflict and violence. Also, there was too much negative All key stakeholders in Ghana’s Coming on the heels of troubled and non issue-based campaigning, elections must and must be made elections on the African continent, especially in the presidential run-off to take responsibility for their particularly Nigeria, Kenya and election. Some political parties and actions ..... Page 8 Zimbabwe in recent years, the candidates, aided by elements within Ghanaian experience also helped to the media and civil society, mobilized EDITORIAL TEAM defy the trend of botched elections ethnic hatred. Parties and candidates Editors-in-chief in Africa and countered the growing declared their respective so-called E. Gyimah-Boadi pessimism in some circles over the strongholds “no-go” areas for their H. Kwasi Prempeh suitability of democracy as a form opponents. Guest Editors of government for African nations. Cyril K. Daddieh These developments may be fairly Franklin Oduro Notwithstanding this significant normal in competitive elections such Members achievement, the December as the one Ghana went through in Nana Ama Agyeman elections also revealed the fragility December. Indeed, Ghana’s 2008 Kojo Pumpuni Asante of the political and institutional election experience was certainly Victor Brobbey arrangements in Ghana’s 4th much better than that of many Audrey Gadzekpo Republic. A number of African nations. It is also sobering developments prior to, during and to think that this was also the fifth th Democracy Watch is published with funding from immediately after the elections election in the 4 Republic and one the German Development Service (DED) pointed to the real possibility that, among many since the country’s CDD-Ghana... partisans for democracy and good governance 2 independence. Seen in this light, the flaws and represent an increase of 16.7 per cent over the 2006 weaknesses in the elections raise many questions not electoral list of 10, 987,057 and a statistically improbable just about the quality of our electoral process, but about percentage of about 58% of the total projected national the strength of our democracy. At the very least, the population. negative experiences in the December elections raise questions about whether Ghana is staying on course It was no wonder that senior officials of the EC described with her record of progressively successful elections from the 2008 limited voter registration exercise as 1992 to 2004. They also raise the question as to unprecedented in their experience with exercises of this whether Ghana’s democratic development has reached nature. The political parties roundly condemned the some sort of a plateau. exercise as disappointing; and independent non-state Democracy Watch undertakes a review of the quality domestic election observers, including the Coalition of of the 2008 polls, highlighting some of its key moments. Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), declared the It also makes suggestions for addressing such problems exercise unsatisfactory. Indeed, the limited registration in future elections. This edition reflects on two major exercise proved to be one of the most contentious issues developments in the December election cycle: the in the 2008 elections. The tensions and frustrations ‘Limited Voter Registration Exercise’ and ‘Election experienced in the process as well as the surprisingly large Conflicts’. number of new voters on the provisional voters’ register hugely aggravated the mistrust and mutual suspicion between the two leading political parties (NDC and NPP) and in particular, the NDC on one hand and the Electoral Worrisome developments in the 2008 Commission (EC) on the other. polls Several reasons were advanced for the unexpected outcome of this important aspect of the electoral process The Electoral Commission (EC) conducted a voter aimed at a credible and a conflict-free election. The EC is registration exercise between July 31 and August 12, 2008 blamed for poor planning. Administrative and logistical to register Ghanaians who had turned eighteen since the structures put in place for this exercise, particularly the last registration. The exercise also targeted other Ghanaians number of registration centers, were highly inadequate; and who, for excusable reasons, did not have their names in the innovation to physically rotate the centers from place the voters’ roll. Referred to as ‘Limited Voter Registration,’ to place created panic and confusion among anxious the objective was to enfranchise eligible Ghanaians and registrants. As expected, the political parties blamed the enable them to vote in the December 7, 2008 general EC for ignoring their suggestions and views on specific elections. However, the process was plagued by grave aspects of the process from the Inter-Party Advisory operational difficulties, including shortage of registration Council (IPAC). At the same time, the political parties, materials, registration of minors, a slow registration process especially the NPP and NDC accused each other of being and, in some cases, commotion and violence. The exercise complicit in creating the mess —organizing and busing was deemed unsatisfactory and its legitimacy openly supporters from one area to another and mobilizing minors doubted even before the final tally was out. to register in a desperate bid to illegally increase the number of voters, especially in constituencies where the party’s The number and length of queues formed at the registration support was weak or limited. centers throughout the period (especially in the urban The statistical basis upon which the EC made its projections, centers) was unprecedented. Prospective registrants slept which in turn informed its planning for the registration overnight to improve their chances of ensuring early exercise was also questioned. Concerns were raised registration the next morning. But the ridiculously high especially about whether the EC had factored in its number of voters that was finally captured in the provisional projections, the current high rate of rural-urban migration register at the end of the exercise went beyond the worst (which possibly explains why the urban centers had been expectations of the election administrators. The EC worst affected). announced that it registered 1,835,417 voters during the exercise as against about one million originally expected. Poor voter education was also cited as a key factor. From This figure represented an increase of about 290 per cent anecdotal evidence, a large number of those who went over a similar exercise in 2006 which had recorded 632,087 forward to register in the exercise did so for reasons other voters. The voters’ register for the December 2008 election, than electoral. Some of them already had their names on then, stood at a record number of 12,822,474, out of an the voters’ roll but went to the centers because they had estimated population of about 22 million. This would misplaced their voter identification (ID) cards. Others, Democracy Watch Vol. 8, No. 2 May 2009 3 especially the youth, had gone for new voter ID cards registration presents a number of lessons to be learned for because the cards could also be used for identification in future elections and for Ghana’s democratic development. transacting other businesses in the formal sector (such as A fundamental recommendation going into future elections opening bank accounts). The overall effect was that the is for the EC to do more to ensure that recurrent disputes registrants seemed utterly ignorant or cared less about the over voter registration